We welcome paper proposals that explore how non-Christian religious communities in Eastern Late Antiquity understood, accepted, rejected, polemicized, parodied or resisted the person or idea of Jesus. We would also welcome papers on how marginal or minority Christian communities in the non-Roman East reacted to, polemicized against or incorporated such critiques. (90 mins)

There seemed to be some traditions preserved in the New Testament of some contending Jesus was a glutton and a drunk (Matthew 11:19), and possibly that that the disciples had underhanded motives, stealing Jesus’ body, and falsely proclaiming him resurrected (perhaps reflected in Matthew 28:13) Regarding this latter point, and indeed whether there was a missing body or not, we can picture Jesus’ disciples, devastated by the death of Jesus, inventing the stories about Jesus’ resurrection appearances (encapsulated in the pre Pauline Corinthian creed),so they could continue on his mission and lend apparent divine force to his message of love of God, neighbor and enemy. On the other hand, maybe Cephas and the twelve were hallucinating? Or perhaps they really did encounter the risen Jesus? There is really no way to know.

I’m not sure there is any way to distinguish this long after the fact between deliberate inventions to safeguard the memory of Jesus, and processes that had the same motivations at a subconscious level leading to dreams and convictions without any conscious deception of self and others.

John MacDonald

I agree. Trying to peer through the veil to see what really lies behind the Pre Pauline Corinthian Creed seems an impossible task. But that’s wonderful and enchanting! Maybe the apostles were lying. Or maybe they were just hallucinating. Or maybe they actually did encounter the spirit of the risen Jesus. There are possibilities enough for secular and religious alike. It is one of the great mysteries in human history.